Stuck
by MissSlytherinxoxo
Summary: Jily AU. Lily Evans works as a secretary at a newspaper company. She spends her days tormenting her rival James Potter and, in turn, being tormented right back. One day, the two get stuck in an elevator together.


I was going through old documents and found this gem in a seriously rough draft version. So I fixed her up and here she is. I haven't edited this, I kinda just wanted to post it, so please excuse any typos or anything along those lines. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

Lily Evans worked as a secretary. To those who knew her, they were surprised. Lily Evans wasn't secretary material. She didn't like being bossed around or made into an errand-girl. And yet, that's exactly what she was. When people asked her about it, the answer was always the same: "I need money. My boss may be a jerk, but he pays me well."

Her boss, Mr. Hebert, was the chief editor at the newspaper company Lily worked at. A large, bulbous man with a large appetite and booming voice. He fired people weekly for whatever reason he deemed good enough, or for no reason at all. Once he screamed at the building's mailman for bringing "very important documents" a day later, despite it not being the poor boy's fault. The building had shook with his anger and the boy had not been seen after that. Everyone in the building feared him.

Everyone except James Potter.

James Potter was a writer for the newspaper. He was one of the best writers, constantly writing front-page headlines and interviewing the most important people in England. He could have an entire floor of his own and a branch of people to work for him, but instead he took up an office on the opposite side of the floor from where Mr. Hebert's office was. He never had an assistant, a secretary, or anybody. The only people ever allowed to work with him were the camera crew. They loved him, as did everyone else.

Lily didn't. He had tried to flirt with her the first few days that she worked there, but after she made it clear she wasn't interested, he decided to use her as entertainment for himself and their coworkers instead. His antics were to inspire great annoyance and difficulty into Lily Evans's life.

He would beat her to the coffee maker and take the last of it, forcing Lily to have to make a new pot and make her boss mad at her for taking so long. He would run in front of her to use the copier, then make a ridiculous amount of copies of one thing. He would move things ever-so-slightly on her—annoyingly small—desk when she wasn't looking, causing her to think that maybe she was going crazy. He spent two weeks recording what time she came in to work in order to put an "out of order" sign over the door on the lift right before she came in one day. It took careful planning but just as she reached the seventh floor they worked on (sweating and panting) the lift doors opened and James stepped out, shooting an "Alright, Evans?" at her furious face.

Lily finally retaliated. At least once a week the name plate on James's desk would be found somewhere random—in a potted plant, in a drawer in the break-room, underneath Mr. Hebert's desk. James would sometimes find his keyboard unplugged from his computer. She took all the staples out of his stapler and drawer. Every day during autumn James would find a single leaf somewhere—on his chair, in one of his files, and even in the copier which he didn't fully understand. Once, he turned on the monitor of his computer to find a picture of a leaf on it. He wasn't happy with this turn of events. He liked to be the tormenter, not the tormented.

But there was nothing he could really do about it, since he did initiate this war, so he kept messing with her and she kept messing with him. It became a great source if amusement for their coworkers.

One day, in early spring, Lily was running around for Mr. Hebert as the old man was especially grumpy that day.

"Take these files to accounting," he grunted, gesturing to two large boxes filled with files. "And be quick about it."

"Yes, sir," Lily said, as nicely as she could. She picked up the boxes, expecting them to be heavy. She was right.

Lily wasn't the strongest person, but she wasn't so weak that she couldn't lift a couple of cardboard boxes with paper in them. However with a tightfitting blouse, a pencil skirt, and very high heels, she had some difficulty lifting and moving with the boxes.

Accounting was a few floors down, which meant she had to use the lift, on the opposite side of the floor she was on. She walked as casually as she could. A few people asked her if she needed help, but she turned them down. She had this.

Over the boxes, she could see the lift. Someone was getting out, and someone else was getting in. Lily started to move faster in order to get to it before it closed.

"Hold the lift!" Lily called out. The person inside turned and looked at her. She locked eyes with James Potter.

He grinned wickedly and pressed a button. He didn't appear like he wanted to hold the lift, especially when the doors started to close.

Lily put on a burst of speed, hoping she wouldn't trip and fall—wouldn't that just make Potter's day. She stopped in front of the lift, the doors almost shut. Lily stuck her foot out, praying that the thin heel she was standing on didn't snap and cause her to brake an ankle.

The doors closed on her foot and immediately started to opening again. Lily stepped inside and glared at James, who smiled smugly.

"Need a lift?" he said, grinning like that was the funniest pun in the world.

Lily looked at the buttons on the wall. "Could you press the fourth floor for me, please?" she asked, only because she had no other option.

"Ah, no," James said. "I'm going to the first floor and I'd hate to be held up at the fourth. Maybe I'll press it once we get down there."

Lily fumed. Lily shuffled towards the buttons with the boxes in her hands. James didn't move out of her way until she shoved him. She tried to extend her finger to hit the button with a 4 on it, but just as she would have hit it, James tapped the top box in her hands. The two boxes started to lean and, with Lily on her too-high heels, she leaned with them.

Papers and files flew around the floor as both boxes fell. Lily had only enough time to catch herself before she, too, fell. She stared in horror at the papers that now formed a new layer on the floor. She couldn't even see the tiles underneath. James snickered in the corner.

"You!" Lily yelled, pointing a finger at him and stepping forward. He raised his hands innocently. "Why, you no-good, lousy, sorry excuse—"

Suddenly, the lift lurched and shuddered to a stop. Lily and James momentarily forgot about their squabble and looked around. The doors weren't open.

"Aw, Evans, you broke it!" James said.

"Me? What could I possibly have done to have caused this?"

"Maybe it saw your face. It couldn't handle it being so ugly."

"Maybe it saw you brain. It couldn't handle it being so small."

They glared at each other for another moment. "Press the emergency button," James finally said.

Lily pressed the red button at the bottom of the panel. Nothing happened. "Maybe you broke that, too," James said.

"I didn't break anything!" Lily snapped. She looked around in dismay at the papers and overturned boxes on the floor. "You're going to help me clean this."

"Um, no." James looked at her like she was crazy.

"Um, yes. You caused this mess, you help clean it up." Lily took off her shoes and threw them in a corner, happy to be rid of them. She got down on her hands and knees and started to make a pile of papers. James watched her.

"Potter, if you're staring at my arse…" Lily warned.

"Of course not!" James said indignantly. "I'm just admiring your skirt. It's a very nice color. Black is in, I hear."

"Help me!" Lily said, throwing a few papers at him. They did what all papers do and flew in every direction but James's.

"Um, no," James said. "I prefer to watch."

Lily was about to say something very rude when the phone in the lift rang. Both jumped for it, but James got to it first. "Hello? Help I'm stuck in a lift with a psychotic woman!"

Lily stepped next to him to hear what the person on the other end was saying.

"James Potter? That you?" The connection was bad and it was hard to make out what he was saying.

"Gary?" James asked, dropping his victim act. "Wow, what a relief it is to hear someone from the outside world. I lost track of how long it's been. Tell me, have they created the high-five machine? It's for lonely people. I keep telling people to make it, but it never happens."

"Well, you've been stuck in the lift for about three minutes," the man—Gary—said.

"My God," James said. "We've been here longer than I thought."

"Yeah, we got some maintenance teams on their way to you now. Hold tight."

"I'll try to make it through," James said dramatically. "But what about air? The girl's taking up half of it. I'll have to kill her to live longer."

"Uh, no. There are air vents. And even if that doesn't work, there's a grate above your head. You'll be fine," Gary said, somehow not annoyed by James.

"So I can't kill her?" James asked.

"Not unless you want to go to jail. I have to go. You two stay safe, you'll be out in no time," Gary said, cheerfully.

"Thanks Gary," James said. "You're the best."

After James hung up the phone, he turned and looked at Lily. "There you go, Evans! We only have to be stuck in here for a little while."

"Great! Then you can help me clean up these files and we can be done before they fix this old, stupid thing," Lily said, looking around at the metal box they were stuck in.

"Whoa, whoa there," James said, putting a hand out. "Don't talk about the lift like that." He started to stroke the wall. "She didn't mean it, baby. Don't worry about the mean lady."

Lily stared at him for a moment. "Are you going to help me or not?"

"Not," James said, looking at all the papers on the floor. "This looks like a lot of work."

"And you just hate work," Lily muttered.

"I don't hate work. I like work. Just not _this_ work," James said, clearing a few papers to make a patch on the floor to sit down on.

"You mean you don't like to pick up after the messes you've made?" Lily bent down and started to pick up some papers.

"Exactly!" James said, watching her. "See you _do_ understand me, Evans!"

Lily didn't say anything. Instead, she threw a pile of papers into one of the cardboard filing boxes.

"I don't think that's how they're supposed to be filed," James said, unhelpfully.

"Yes, thank you, Sherlock!" Lily said sarcastically. "I don't know how they're supposed to be filed and I can't ask anyone at the moment, can I? Mr. Hebert is going to kill me."

Lily took down her hair, throwing pins on the floor and wrapping hair ties around her wrist.

"What are you doing?" James asked.

"Taking my hair down."

"Why?"

"Because I am tired of the pins sticking into my head and my hair being wrapped so tightly that I no longer feel at the roots. And my neck is cold. It's always cold at work." Lily mumbled the last part bitterly.

James looked at her with her hair down. It fell around her shoulders in a curtain of red. It made her eyes a more vibrant green. It made her skin glow brighter. Why hadn't he seen her hair down before?

"How come you never wear it down?" James asked.

"Oh," Lily said, looking over at him. "Mr. Hebert makes me put it up. He says it's more professional."

"But you're just a secretary."

Lily shrugged. "Mr. Hebert is just like that."

There were a few minutes of silence in which Lily picked up papers and James thought. Then, he startled her by asking, "Why do you put up with him?"

Lily looked over, confused. "Mr. Hebert?" she asked.

James nodded. "He overworks you, asks way too much, blames you for everything, gets mad at the smallest problem, and is… well, mean."

Lily looked away. "He pays well."

"What?!" James asked, incredulously. "That's it?"

"What more do you want?" Lily asked.

"A valid reason! Something that makes sense! You're Lily Evans. Why would _you_ of all people put up with that?"

"What's that supposed—?"

Lily was interrupted by a voice calling out: "Hello! Can you hear us?"

Lily and James looked at each other before both crawling towards the door.

"Um, yeah, we can hear you. Who are you?" James asked.

"We're here to fix the lift. Is everyone inside okay?" the voice asked.

"Yeah, it's only two of us," James called back.

"Good. We are having some difficulties with the lift, so it might take a while. Hang in there, okay?"

"I think we can manage," James said, dramatic as ever.

The woman didn't reply. Lily put her head back, against the closed door, closed her eyes, and groaned. "I hate this."

"Tell me about it," James mumbled.

After a few quiet moments, Lily heard some shuffling. She opened her eyes to see James gathering some papers.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked.

"Helping, duh! Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Yeah, sure, but why? You didn't want to before."

James looked at her. "Mr. Hebert's a horrible boss. I know he'll blame you for this, and…" he seemed to be about to say something, but then thought better of it. "The least I could do was clean it up for you."

"That's… actually really nice. I didn't know you were capable of such things," Lily said.

James shrugged. "Sometimes I develop a conscience. Though it never seems to want to help _me._ "

Lily laughed, causing James to smile. "Lily Evans laughing at one of my jokes. I never thought I'd see the day."

"Well, when they're not at my expense, they're usually pretty funny."

James grinned cockily. "I bet I can make you laugh at least once every day."

"No you can't," Lily said, shaking her head.

"I will. Tomorrow, I will make you cry with laughter."

"Chances are better that you'll make me cry, period." Lily started to gather some paper around her.

"We'll see, Evans. We'll see."

It didn't take very long to clean up the rest of the files. They stacked the boxes in a corner and sat at opposite ends of the lift.

James looked at the door and called out, "Is anyone down there?" When no one answered, he looked at Lily and said, "Guess we have to amuse ourselves."

"Something tells me it won't be that difficult for you," Lily said.

James grinned at her and made a face.

"How long do you think we've been in here?" Lily asked.

"Probably long enough for someone to have invented the high-five machine. They get all the fame and glory while I'm sitting here, trapped."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Someone's already invented the high-five machine!"

James looked up. "Wait, what?"

"Someone invented it in the early 90's," Lily said.

"Wait, how do you know that?" James asked, laughing slightly.

"My dad collects weird things," Lily said, shrugging. "And he loves research equally weird things. Among other stupid inventions that have actually been created are the handerpants, anti-bandit bag, rocket belt, bacon floss, et cetera."

"Handerpants?"

"Underpants for your hands!" Lily said, grinning. She put her hand up and wiggled her fingers at him.

He grinned back at her, about to ask another question, when the voice from before called out, "What's the problem?"

James moved closer to the door. "Um, hi, yeah. We've been stuck for over an hour. What's the hold up? And can we make the hold go down?"

There was a pause. The woman, like Lily, was probably thinking about what James just said because it made no sense.

"Look, we are experiencing some difficulties. We are actually going to have to redirect the air from the vents. It's going to get pretty hot in there."

Lily and James looked at each other. "How long will it take?" Lily asked.

"Well, it shouldn't take long, but we aren't quite sure."

"Great," Lily muttered.

"We can handle it," James called out.

"Glad to hear you say that!" Then she muttered something that Lily couldn't hear

"What did she say?" Lily asked

"It sounded like, 'They'll be lucky if it's less than an hour.'" James answered.

"Oh, this gets better and better," Lily said.

After a few moments, they heard the air vent shut off. Neither had realized that there had been a dim hum creating a white noise. Now, it seemed deafly quiet.

It took a while to get hot. But eventually the two found themselves at opposite end of the lift, using papers from the boxes to fan themselves, and barely speaking.

Lily had put her hair up, but other than that, she hadn't been able to do much more. James had taken off his shirt because he had another one underneath—Lily wouldn't let him take that one off.

"I could die right now and I don't think I would care," James said, laying down on the floor and spreading himself out.

"I would be happy just to be alone," Lily muttered.

"What would that do?"

"If I was alone, then I could take off this awful shirt," Lily said bitterly. The tight blouse was clinging to her skin and making her both hotter and slightly claustrophobic.

"You can take your shirt off anyway," James said, but his usual cockiness was missing from his tone.

"No."

"Why do you wear horrible stuff like that anyway?"

"Mr. Hebert. I have to look professional, remember?" Lily sounded like she could throw up just saying those words.

"And what about these shoes?" James asked, reaching out and taking one of the tall heels that were discarded so long ago.

"What about them?" Lily asked wearily.

"Are you required to wear painfully high heels, too?"

"No," Lily said, sounding… regretful? She didn't sound like she wanted to continue, but James's look made her. "I'm not very tall. I don't like being shorter than everyone else. Especially Mr. Hebert. So, I like to wear really high heels."

"I'm still taller than you," James noted.

"I know," Lily said, rolling her eyes. "It's horrible. I wish I had heels high enough to make me as tall as you."

James looked at her. He had thought that was a joke, but the way she said it was not very joking. He sat up and looked at her. "Wait, are you serious?"

"Yeah. You and I have been fighting for months, almost a year! I wish I was as tall as you—"

"You want to beat me at being taller?"

"No!" Lily said, shaking her head. "I just… I don't know. It's not easy fighting with someone when you're smaller."

"We weren't fighting. We were… feuding."

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Feuding?"

"Yeah. 'Fighting' is too harsh."

Lily laughed. "We could be kinda harsh," she pointed out. "In fact, I think I remember you yourself saying we were fighting, on a few different occasions."

James rolled his eyes. "You're making stuff up."

Lily laughed. Then she looked at him closely, making him feel both uncomfortable and self-conscious. She didn't look bad—her skin glowed with sweat, but it just seemed to make her shine. He probably looked like an overstuffed pig. Finally, she asked, "Why the change of heart?"

James looked away, felling hotter than before. He ran a hand through his hair and forced himself not to look in her direction. "I don't know, I just…"

"Yes?" Lily prompted.

"I feel bad! Okay? I feel bad!" He looked up to see her reaction.

Lily stared at him with wide eyes. "What?"

"I feel bad. I mean, not for what I did. Every prank I ever pulled on you was genius. But I feel bad that you had to deal with your boss and your crappy job and me on top of it all."

"Wow," was all Lily said.

Something in her voice grabbed James's attention. "What?"

"Well, it's just that your stupid pranks and jokes and our feud are probably the only things that kept me sane on this job. You really shouldn't feel bad."

"You're kidding."

Lily shook her head. "It was fun. I especially liked to piss you off."

James looked her in the eyes and his heart jumped into his throat. Her eyes held something that he had never seen from her before. Suddenly, before he could stop himself, he said, "Can I ask you something? And do you promise to answer honestly?"

Lily looked at him curiously. She thought for a moment before nodding slowly. "Sure."

"Why do you put up with Mr. Hebert?"

James could feel something change in her and immediately felt bad for asking. Lily looked down at the floor and said, "I told you—I need the money and he pays well."

"I said be honest."

"That is honest!" Lily snapped.

"Okay, maybe, but it's not the whole truth," James said.

James always went too far. He always pushed people too far. When given a boundary or limit, James just had to test it. And for a moment, James thought he had gone too far. But then Lily sighed and said, "I wanted to be a writer."

"What?"

"I wanted to be a writer. For the newspaper. Mr. Hebert kept making excuses not to hire me. Finally, he said I could work as a secretary and once a position opened up, he would let me have it."

"But we've had positions open up while you've been working here," James remembered.

Lily shrugged. "Guess he likes me as a secretary."

James suddenly got very angry. Of _course_ he liked Lily as a secretary! He was a perverted old man who just wanted Lily to look at. No wonder he forced her to dress like she did.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked, noticing his change in expression.

"You realise he's just using you because you're pretty. He's a pervert."

Lily cocked her head and smiled slightly. "You think I'm pretty?"

James stared at her. "Did you not hear the second sentence?"

"I heard it, but I already know that," Lily said. "I'm not an idiot."

"If you know, then why do you stay?" James asked.

"Because I'm stuck! If I leave, he'll never hire me! If I stay, I will never get past this secretary job."

"Well, why do you have to work for this newspaper?" James asked.

"It's the best one around here. Am I wrong for wanting to work at it? There are a lot of people here who hate Mr. Hebert, but they don't leave because this place is worth it."

James sighed. She was right. Then, he got an idea. "Why don't you work for me?"

Lily looked up. "What?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah. Work for me! I can get your writing into the newspaper. I have connections. And it will get you away from Mr. Hebert."

Lily stared at him. "But you never have people work with you."

"Only because I haven't found someone capable or worthy enough. Until now, that is." James could see the blush forming on Lily's cheeks and something about it made him giddy.

"I don't know…" Lily said cautiously.

"At least think about it," James prompted. "And maybe we could even go out for coffee and discuss it."

Lily looked up at him. "Is this just your way of getting me on a date with you?" she accused, but he could tell she didn't mean it.

James shrugged. "You're the one who brought up the word 'date,' Love. Though if you'd like it to be a date, I'd be happy to oblige."

Lily smiled. "I think I just might take you up on that offer of a job."

James grinned. "I would be happy to have you."

"And I think I will—"

The lift shuttered and started to move. James cried out in happiness and Lily grinned. It stopped on the nearest floor—the fifth.

When the doors opened, a small group of maintenance workers were there. In front, a woman with a blonde ponytail and a hard face greeted them.

"Glad you're still alive," she said. Lily recognised it as the voice they heard before.

"Yeah, that seemed like a very long time. Why did it take so long?" James asked.

"Are you really complaining about the way we saved you?" the woman asked.

"Thank you," Lily said. The woman turned to look at Lily and smiled.

"All in a day's work. Now, don't get stuck in any more lifts."

"I'll try my best, but old habits die hard!" James said as the woman and the other workers walked away.

"Well, I still have to get to the first floor," James said, walking back into the lift.

Lily followed, saying, "And I have to get back to the fourth floor. Maybe we can sort out these files."

James pressed the button for the fourth floor and the doors slowly started to close. James picked up his shirt and started to put it on again.

As they descended, Lily said, "I will gladly accept your offer of a job."

"I gladly accept your application."

"And I also accept your offer of coffee," Lily said.

"But that was to talk about the job. And you just accepted that," James said, confused. The lift stopped and the light said they were on the fourth floor.

"Then consider it a date," Lily said. She reached up on her tip-toes to kiss James on the cheek. Then, as the doors opened, she picked up the boxes—her shoes dangling from a finger—and walked out.

James watched her go until the doors closed and he could no longer see her retreating form. He grinned to himself and pressed the number one. The lift was still too hot and moved slower than normal, but James didn't even notice.

* * *

Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed. Have a good day/night!

~Jill  
MissSlytherinxoxo

XOXO


End file.
